SpokenRev's Underground Railroad Cycling Tour 2011

Spoke ‘n Revolutions Youth Cycling (SnR) re-introduces Youth Cyclists to the joy of an active life by having their own bicycle adventure. SnR cyclists are thoughtful, smart high-school students who enjoy physical challenges. This year we've cycled 1800 miles of the Underground Railroad!

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Saturday, July 16, 2011

Today we woke up to a beautiful morning on the shore of lake Erie. We had a nice breakfast and as we were packing our stuff Rich, aka the bicycle repair man, help some kids fix there bikes. To show they were thankful and excited for what we were doing they rode with us for a little bit and then returned back to the campsite.

The day's ride was a nice ride. Not that many hills and most of the time we rode next to lake Erie. We also rode near several grape farms. This is the day we finally made it into New York. We were all so happy and I still couldn't believe we made it through another state. I guess it's true when they say time flys by when your having fun.

We stayed at another campsite were I got to witness another great sunset. It was a nice night. Kinda windy but perfect weather. I can't wait until we finally make it.

Today we begin our journey home, we will be taking a 10 hour road trip back to North Carolina in our van. I am excited to go home to my friends and family in Chapel Hill. Looking back on this trip I realize that I have gained a great deal more than I knew I did from it. I have learned information from the past that most people will never know. I have seen things that most people will never see, this trip has given me the opportunity to learn a lot about my past and I am very grateful for having this opportunity. Making this choice was one of the greatest decisions of my life. From this trip I have realized that there is a lot of history that we are not taught in school and I would sometime like to learn more about this. I think in college I will take an African American studies course.

The eve of July 4th. This was the first time in the entire trip where we stayed in a hotel. To be more specific it was the Embassy Suites, located across the bridge from Cincinnati, OH. Suepinda and Kevin gave us each $20 and pretty much said get out and explore the city, be back by 11. And naturally, we went out to find some Chinese food. Unfortunately, today was Sunday and all the local shops were closed down.

After separating from the rest of the the group me and Ibn stayed in Covington and walked around for hours trying to find someplace to eat. Around 9 pm, out of desperation, we finally walked across the bridge into the city. To my amazement we were greeted by Iron Man 2 playing on a big screen in the town square, and more restaurants than I wanted to choose from. Coincidentally, we found the rest of the group in the first place we entered and after eating we went out to the square to watch fireworks. It was great to have the freedom to walk around the city and do what you wanted, such as Kyvon dance-battling little kids and a homeless man. It's a type of freedom we don't have while on the bike and I can speak for the group when I say that this was a bonding experience, which brought us all closer.

Today was the last ride of the trip, and I think we were all excited. We were supposed to be riding from our hosts home in Buffalo, to Niagara Falls. While we were riding we saw that the "bike trail" we were supposed to ride on ended. Once the trail ended, we rode around in a circle for a while, until we finally got back on track. When everything was going fine, Chris and I crashed, and some of my spokes broke. Since that is something that you never want to happen, I was told that it was unsafe to ride with a wheel in that condition, so everyone had to take their bike apart and get in the van, because we all were going to ride or nobody was going to ride. We then drove to Niagara Falls and boarded the Maid of the Mist to take our long awaited tour that took us next to the Falls. After being able to see Canada on the other side, and to be able to see the Falls themselves, all of our hard work for the past month was worth it.

Today is the second Big DAY of this lovely adventure. If you don't remember the first Big DAY was June 13th, the day we departed from Chapel Hill. I can't believe we made it to this point! Our 30 days of adventure has truly become a once in a life time experience.

So today I woke up in the lovely home of David and Molly. I woke up with my mind set on freedom. I had the 1st day of school feeling again. I felt like today was the day I've been waiting for for a really long time. I didn't and I still can't put words to the way I was feeling. All I really know is that I made it, we made it, we all completed an 1800 mile journey. Something 31 days ago was nothing more than a goal, an idea, a dream, a distant thought. We all made it to Niagara Falls! We did it!! I Can't say it enough but I'm extremely proud of Jeimy, Chris, Mahlique, Houston, Kyvon, Ibn, Marshall, Mrs. Sue, Kevin, Mr. Brogden and Rich for doing this!

We left Molly and David's home and headed off on our last bike ride. On our way to Niagara Falls we got lost. We were on a bike trail but the bike trail stopped and we hit a dead end. Everyone we asked said that we could ride a bike trail all the way to the Falls. With the dead-end ahead we decided to head back towards Ohio St and follow the directions we had printed from map quest or one of those direction giving websites. We eventually made it to Niagara St.

While riding on Niagara St. Ibn got a flat so we had to stop which gave us time to figure out where we were and how we were going to get to Niagara Falls. After Ibn's bike was ready to go we set off in search of Aqua Lane. About a mile away from Aqua Lane, Kyvon and Chris get into a minor accident. Where 3 of Kyvon's spokes broke making it not possible for him to finish the ride. The decision to call the SAG van and call it a day was made for several reasons one being that Kyvon's bike was unrepairable at the moment and the other was that we still had 20 or so miles to go and it was close to 3pm. So if we kept riding we wouldn't really get to spend enough time at Niagara Falls. When the SAG van arrived to pick us up the bikes and were ready to go. The front wheels were off the bikes. We all worked as a team to get the bikes on the trailer and locked.

Niagara Falls, Niagara Falls what a beautiful sight! This is truly one day I will never ever forget! My heart was racing like never before, I was getting kinda emotional and wanting to cry because I didn't know another way of expressing how happy I was. We headed to the Maid of the Mist area and we got closer and closer to the falls. I can't find words to describe the natural beauty before my eyes. Once on the boat I remembered my dad asked me to call him if I had signal down there and thankfully I did! I gave him a call and to hear his voice while on the boat made me feel extremely special. I was on top of the world while I was at the bottom of the falls.

Before getting off the boat I had to make sure I gave a big thanks and hug to my SnR family (except Houston who gave me a handshake since he doesn't do hugs).

Once we left the Falls we headed to CheeBurger, CheeBurger which has 1,258,000 combinations of milk shakes. We all set down and had a wonderful dinner. We laughed and talked and then got back in the car and said bye to Buffalo, NY and here we come Chapel Hill. I could not have asked for a better last day than this.

Today we left Evangola Camping ground and headed towards Buffalo, New York. We ended up doing 51 miles today instead of 30miles because we got lost somewhere in between.

However, when we arrived to Buffalo and saw the signs we all let out some crazy noise. We let out a victory scream. We then road down till we got to Michigan St where we took a right turn and met Kevin Cottrell and 2 really nice reporters. We were invited inside the church and got to listen to the importance of Buffalo in the Underground Railroad movement.

We also visited a park were we could see Canada for the 1st time. Canada was just within reach. Even though we weren't going to cross over it was just incredible being able to see it from a distance and knowing we are so close. the thing is that I didn't really realize that we made it to buffalo till we got to David and Molly's house where we spent the night. The great thing about spending the night at David and Molly's home is that we started our journey with a Quaker family (Sara and Darryl from Blountsville, Alabama) and we ended our journey with a Quaker family. This was a great day!

Today we finally made it into Buffalo, NY. Honestly, it was very surreal to me that we had actually made it to NY. It felt like yesterday we were unloading the bikes for the first time in Mobile, Alabama. I couldn't believe it, we are one day away from finishing our journey.

We started the day off with a pretty easy ride. It was flat and the weather was cooler than usual. I liked the atmosphere of NY so far. We rode to Michigan Street Baptist Church in Buffalo where they would hide escaped slaves right before they would try to cross over to Canada. We got a tour of the church and part of the city from a man named Kevin Cottrell, a local historian and tour guide. He was really passionate about the UGRR and knew a lot of history. He said he really admired us for doing this because he had traveled the UGRR many years ago but it was in a van not on bikes, like us. I thought that was pretty cool. He really knew things that I had never heard about from a teacher or read in a textbook. In my opinion talking to people and really listening is the best way to learn.

The day ended with us driving to another Quaker family's home. David and Molly were so very nice. David's wife was pregnant with their first child and still welcomed us into their home. We tried to help her out as much as possible. We didn't want her doing too much at all, so we washed the dishes for her and I helped her cook breakfast. Anything we could do to help out we did. After everything was done we all fell asleep on the floor watching napoleon dynamite.

Today we rode about 60 miles to another YMCA. It was a long ride but afterwards the boys still had enough energy to play basketball, so we played a few games. After being at the YMCA for a few hours Rich (Giorgi) came. It was nice to see him. Rich is da man! He brought us "I love NY" T-shirts and power bars. I thought that was really nice of him to do. Later that night we ate subway for dinner. The next morning we woke up and did a few bike repairs. After the repairs were complete we got on the road to go to a campsite.

This was Rich's first ride with us. He did pretty good and kept a good pace. When we got to the campsite there wasn't much to do so we all just took it easy and relaxed for the night. The next morning we woke up early as usual and began to ride. During the ride we got caught in a huge rain storm. We waited until the rain passed before we left to ride again. After going down the road, which was a bit wet, we got caught in another rain storm, but it was quick so we kept riding. We finally made it to our destination in Oberlin Ohio. We ate Mexican food and went to watch a theatrical performance of raisin in the sun. It was a great performance and we met one of the lead actress. We talked to her and took pictures.

Today we were in Covington, Kentucky. We started off riding about fifteen miles, then crossed the bridge into Ohio, and then we had breakfast. The most important meal of the day!

After eating breakfast, we went down the road and went into a construction zone with a lot less traffic. Kevin thought that would be a lot safer but it turns out that the road was filled with huge pot holes and cracks in the concrete. Most of the group got flat tires. We had 9 flat tires total. Itza, Marshall and Ibn were the only ones able to continue. That night we stayed in a hotel. The kids all went out together and ate dinner without the adults. We all had fun it was good night out.

We spent the entire day in Oberlin, OH. While there, we took a tour of the town with the local historian. We toured for so long, we didn't even get to ride. When the tour was over, we all went back to Dr.Cousin's home - which was originally the home of John Mercer Langston and now a historic landmark. We relaxed for the rest of the day, and played a couple of games. After we finished with that, we all ate pizza, and then we took our new friend Julia Robertson back home.

Today was the very last day Spoke 'n Rev would hit the saddle. I believe it was with a sad feeling for all of us that we would be leaving the next day to head back. It all seemed so surreal to me. I had just finished the Underground Railroad tour on the seat of a bike. A feat not many people can say they have done; let alone by high school students. Anyway, we made it to Niagara Falls and it was one of the most magnificent sites I have ever got to see in my short life. As a bonus I also got to see a part of Ontario!

When we saw the Falls we got to ride the boat that took you out to the base of the falls - The Maid of the Mist. To me the bike trip to get here was worth every hardship we encountered. Now I have a great story to tell my children and my grandchildren.

After the falls we got in the van and headed off back to North Carolina. For dinner we ate burgers & shakes; and let me tell you that the food was superb! After dinner we headed down the road till we found a hotel to stay in for the night. And that is how my last day of the tour went. It was one of the best feelings to know that I am one of the only teenagers to have completed the Underground Railroad route. I offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped Spoke 'n Rev get to where we are and allowed us to complete this tour.